Main Menu

Book Reviews

The Weiser Book of the Fantastic and Forgotten: Tales of the Supernatural, Strange, and Bizarre

Details

Written by Larissa Carlson Viana

Published: 24 June 2017

Weird fiction is a type of speculative fiction involving supernatural and sometimes scientific elements characterized by a serious feeling of foreboding and dread, the cause of which may not be explained. Ranging from laugh out loud funny to anxiety producing, the stories are fantastic in the sense of bizarre and strange. Not all the tales and authors are forgotten but many are unknown to modern readers. With better known authors, you'll find their lesser known stories such as Dracula's Guest by Bram Stoker. Judith Illes writes an informative introduction on the genre of weird fiction and then introduces each individual tale. This collection of short stories will beckon to fans of suspense, the supernatural, ghosts, vampires and the occult.

The important thing to remember is these stories weren't intended as high brow literature. Printed in pulp fiction magazines, weird fiction has rarely achieved serious respect. Some of the stories are clearly products of their time and may strike the modern reader as quaint. Even so they are excellent examples of the weird fiction genre and stepping stones to the eventual development of the horror and science fiction genres. Other stories have stood the test of time and really deserve to have the dust brushed off their covers. The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde remains one of the funniest ghost stories ever written and may inspire you to collect the rest of this author's work. The beauty of an anthology is the opportunity to taste the style of so many authors and then indulge later by binge reading your favorites.

FTC Endorsement Notice

As required by the FTC , I am posting this notice.

Reviews on this website were usually compensated in that the reviewer was given a copy of the item and allowed to keep said copy. Some reviews published here are from other forums and publications and Facing North makes no claim as to whether those reviews were compensated. No other compensation was offered or accepted for these reviews which are as unbiased as possible.